Hi, I'm Tom I build content, product, and teams at early stage companies. I'm fascinated with learning and want to help individuals and companies learn more effectively.

about

I've always been a tinkerer. Legos were my favorite growing up. I used to build from the instructions first. Inevitably I'd end up with a massive box of random pieces to pick from, because I wasn't one to keep my Legos on the shelf. My Legos were well-used. And as that box of random, messy Legos grew, I realized how big of an opportunity it was. With that box I could build whatever I put my mind to. Hybrid spaceships / castles / speedboats emerged from the mess.

In my work, I often face complex problems and messy situations where it's unclear how we'll move forward. I think most of us do these days, in fact. To me it feels a lot like looking at that box of Legos; what are the component parts, how do they fit together? That's what I love about what I do. Digging in to messy problems to come out with creative solutions is incredibly rewarding. And it's what I've focused my career on to date: building teams at early stage companies that offer learning solutions to other companies.

I've spent the last 6 years building a world-class learning content team at Grovo and then building and testing social learning solutions at Everwise. Now I'm starting out with a new experiment, called Nextt. We hope that we can empower people to bring their ideas to life by running small, light experiments. It's going to be fun.

My work

What I'm working on now

Experimenting with a new type of accelerator. We help people with big ideas test them with lean experiments to find a way forward. Stay tuned for more!

Consulting

Learning design, product, and content development. Would love to hear from you if you're interested in working together.

Reading

I have a huge reading list, and I'm reading all the time. Currently reading: The Master Switch by Tim Wu. If you want to read with me, shoot me a note.

What's up next

(Ideas & projects that I've been thinking about and would love your help with)

Creating DDOs

Deliberately Developmental Organizations. Robert Kegan and Lisa Laskow Lahey define a DDO as an organization that operates under the belief that they'll prosper most when they are more deeply aligned with people's strongest motive: to grow. As a manager, I've focused on helping my team grow, and as a provider of 3rd party training solutions, I've helped other companies do the same. If you're a growing startup looking to create a learning culture, I'd love to chat!

Skills > content

The most in-demand skills today are non-routine and interpersonal: I think the way that we learn and teach these skills has a long way to go to catch up with demand. Employers report that college students are more and more unprepared with the skills they need to succeed in the workplace -- skills like creativity, problem solving, decision making. The problem isn't just with colleges though. Much of what we're doing with students in secondary school is designed to get them into colleges...which means prepping for the SAT, taking AP tests, etc. I think we need more skill building and less drilling / memorization.

Enterprise IoT

Internet enabled devices have been in the workplace for a long time now. We've had rapid advances in VR and AR technology. And, VC funding for quantum computing is at an all time high. I'm interested in exploring how smart devices can help us learn, prevent accidents/mistakes, and more.

Dog play groups

My wife menioned the other day that she'd love to have a place where she could go to organize a play date for our dog. If you've got a playful, energetic dog in NYC we'd love to hear from you!

Contact Me

Name

Email Address

Message

Location

New York

Around the Web

About Tom

Tom is passionate about helping individuals grow & learn. Don't be shy, get in touch!

Co-founder

Nextt is an accelerator for ideas. We help people get their ideas off the ground without having to go full time off the bat. In our 8-week program, we help people who have big ideas design light tests to learn what’s next for their side project or business. Projects that have “graduated” from the program have seen exciting results, including attracting initial investors, interest from other upstream accelerators, and recruiting additional collaborators.

Date:
Current

Head of Content

My role spanned many different functions: product, learning design, content development, and more. Our core service is matching people to mentors, but I was brought on to help figure out how to grow into the larger vision of creating an enterprise social learning platform. I designed and launched a handful of experiments, several of which turned into core parts of the product offering, such as curriculum-driven peer groups and a virtual coaching program.

Date:
2016

Director of Content

Responsible for operations and strategy of the content team. Recruited and hired a team of 20+, including instructional designers, content writers, video editors, and animators. Transitioned library from B2C coverage to B2B focus. Built library to 5,000+ videos using microlearning, holistic, and competency-based methodologies, covering soft skills, professional skills, and compliance training. Delivered custom content for 20+ clients including Walmart, ASU, Equinox, Mediamath, and more.

Date:
2012 - 2016

Editorial, marketing, and social media

Pitched and wrote 10+ articles per week to drive SEO and brand awareness. Edited content submitted from 20+ writers for the company blog. Scheduled and wrote company press releases.

Date:
2011 - 2012

English teacher

Taught English and designed curricula for French primary school students; provided language support to French teachers.

Date:
2010 - 2011

Project Title

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